A DUST-COVERED INSTRUMENT.
A STRANGE instrument hung on an old castle wall—so the legend runs. No one knew its use. Its strings were broken and covered with dust. Those who saw it wondered what it was and how it had been used. Then one day a stranger came to the castle gate and entered the hall. His eye saw the dark object on the wall, and, taking it down, he reverently brushed the dust from its sides and tenderly reset its broken strings; then chords, long silent, woke beneath his touch, and all hearts were strangely thrilled as he played. It was the master, long absent, who had come back to his castle again. It is but a legend, yet the meaning is plain. In every human soul there hangs a marvelous harp, dust-covered, with strings broken, while yet the Master's hand has not found it. Is there no joy in your heart? Is your soul-harp hanging silent on the wall? Have you learned the secret of glad, happy days? "O, could the tender Christ but brush away,
And o'er the slumbering tones His fingers sweep,
A world would pause to catch the echoing chord
Of music weakened 'neath the touch of God." Open your heart, dear reader, and let Christ enter it. He will repair its broken strings, brush away the dust of sin, and fill your soul with melody divine.—Christian's Guide.